La Valse d'Amelie, piano version
by coeur de lyon
Summary: [oneshot abelxlilith] ...oh lamb of god that taketh away the sins of the world: have mercy upon us...


La Valse d'Amelie (piano version)

_Oh Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World_

_Have mercy upon us_

o0o0o0o

In the name of the father, the son and the holy spirit amen.

He duly crossed himself, siver hair falling into his eyes (as always) as he inclined his head towards the Christ effigy above him, but he didn't think he should have. Even here he felt cloyed down by the weight of his sins. His excellency himself might pardon Abel Nightroad the things he did for the AX, but he knew full well that no amount of Ave Marias, no matter the number of quiet curtained (anonymous) confessional visits (although in such close quarters who else could Alessandro possibly think it was), could clear him. The one sweet voice, the only pardon he sought was beyond him forever.

And even though he was in church, in spite of Caterina's request that he stay alert to the quiet shiftings of the congregation, his mind drifted – not away, but deeper. Down through the marble sanctuary floor, through the earth, into the catacombs – the physical foundations of the Vatican. All rather hollow without that blessed, beloved cornerstone of the Beginning.

_Her breath soft against his cheek, body joined seamlessly to his, like two drops of water, melded together. In the tender night, he had told her his plans._

Lilith; mother and lover.

_"No, Abel."_

Everything.

"_I thought you'd understand!" and although he'd grown older than her now, his voice was hurt and childish, even to his own ears._

"Peace be with you," Alessandro said, in that 'I mean it!' voice that his siblings had coached him in, so that the devout and the agnostic alike weren't able to trace back to the terribly insecure teenager beneath the Grace of God.

_"You love them don't you? Even after what they've done to us! You love them." She pulled away from him then, but he, in spite of his words, refused to let her go. And as he kissed her he tried to ignore some sort of wistful taste in it._

"And also with you," he said, tonelessly, except since Trés was also at mass (where his vocabulary managed to stretch beyond android) it went unnoticed.

"_There is so much _more_ than this, Abel."_

_He looked at her, beautiful in the dim light, the soft roundness of her body creating pools of shadow in the deepest parts of her, but he felt anger stir where usually there was some other feeling. _

"_You don't know that! You're just as ignorant as the rest of us! Look where they've put us! They're _cruel_ Lil!" _

The congregation stood as one as Alessandro, followed by brother and sister swept through the cavernous nave to the sound of the great organ and the bells pealing, mass over.

"_How-how _can_ you?" He tried to tell himself that his voice hadn't cracked on the last word._

"Anything to report?" Caterina looked at him expectantly, gaze sliding over him like wax over water. He smiled, helplessly.

"I'm sorry, maybe if I was _paid _more, I would have been able to eat more and thus would have been able to devote my full attentions to the matter at hand but – "

"Negative." Trés interrupted before the priest could get into full stride.

Which was just what Abel had been expecting.

_"Faith, Abel." She came up to him, long hair cascading down her body. "They are just people, as are we. Here, out there," in her eyes, Abel saw reflected that beautiful, accursed blue world. "We are all children of God."_

"Dismissed."

He left the room, wandering blindly down the alternately opulent and frugal hallways of the Vatican, and before he knew what he was doing he found himself down in the darkness, the weight of earth and grief around him almost overwhelming.

_Her eyes, so wide and clear and far seeing were unlike his, steel blue like shut gates, narrowed so that the tears would not leak out, throat tight with pain as he quietly distanced himself from her._

_"No, we're not."_

It was interesting to see who had come down here, over the years. (So many!) Terran, Methuselah, Crusnik –– And there were traces of all of them, everywhere.

_She did not answer him in words, a sigh emptied her up without a word or breath. And she nodded._

_"Goodnight, Abel;" She said softly, gently leaving him to stew alone in the darkness._

"Father Nightroad? Father!" He heard Esther's voice, echoing down in the bones of the earth, low and melodious and filled with life. Coming after him. He heard the clap of running feet on stone.

She was getting closer.

_And from outside his closed door, in the space of the bright white passageway;_

_"I love You."_

_And he knew he'd been meant to hear it._

"Father? We – Cardinal Sforza is going through the empire – We're leaving Rome!…father nightroad?"

_A little longer,_

He nodded.

"I'm just on my way, Sister Esther. I'll catch up."

She smiled breathlessly before heading back up the way she had come, back to the light.

_And she, out in the bright white passageway sensed the (tears) in his words._

_"I love_ you_."_

Here, the scratch of Seth's spear against the stone, here, a methuselah had wept. Here…Caterina, the little girl who had clumsily scratched into the thick oak door an epitaph of sorts for the beautiful woman who, even in eternity radiated out solace and the peace she had so wanted to see in the world. He pushed his glasses further up his nose as he bent down to read the fading words.

–– Bruise not her bones sweet earth, but gently press –

_Her_ feet trod lightly, caused you no distress ––

She had loved the Terrans, after all.

o0o0o0o

a/n: So what did you think? Kinda sad, bit too churchy imo, also contradicted myself…but how was it for a first go? Abel is outside the crypt, not actually inside it. Hence the doorness. And yeah, abel calls her lil in this because lilith was getting repetitive

Title is mood music acos i couldn't think of a better one

first line is either part of the agnus dei or benedictus, i can't remember which n.n caterina's quote at bottom is a random classics one which is actually latin, i just can't remember the latin of it. Formatting screwed up, sorry, also.

Disclaimer: kihai au e mau ana ki te 'tino rangatiratanga' o Trinity Blood, E hika!

Cheers for reading


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